Meet Your Customers Where They Spend Their Free Time

Image the power of knowing exactly what your customers like to do in their free time. If you knew that they generally owned horses – you would have the ability think creatively about where your messages could intercept them.

Photo credit: cheryl.dudley

• • The regional section in the Horse Fancier’s magazine?
  • Sponsoring a show?

• Partnering with the local grange on an event?
• Sponsoring a junior jumping show?
• Have a Tradeshow booth at one of the local shows?

All of these represent viable options and locations that you could intercept your customer if you knew they were into horses. This knowledge is important because being able to find places and spaces like the ones above are going to be more targeted than advertising in the local newspaper. The beauty of better targeting is that you can reach horse enthusiasts with a better message, for less money. And, because your message is more appropriate to the horse enthusiast, the odds are better that they will respond to your message positively and begin or increase the frequency with which they do business in your shop.

This doesn’t just work for horse enthusiasts though, it works for every niche market. Local food enthusiasts, women beer drinkers, those that are environmentally conscious but not willing to give up luxury, people interested in achieving optimal health from the inside out, individuals seeking peace and mindfulness, Facebook snobs, and those that recognize that aging is not an option, but optimal aging is.

These days, the more tightly you can define an aspect of your target market, the more you are able to find the places and spaces that like-minded people hang out, and the more you can target your message to resonate with those people. Varying your message slightly from target market to target market increase your effectiveness in converting the sale.

See how closely you can define the different aspects of your target market and then consider all the different places you can intercept those audience members. Your marketing budget and conversion rates will thank you for it.